Weekly Project Updates: Notcoin Launches on Binance, etc

1. Binance Launches 54th Launchpool Project “Notcoin” (NOT) link

Binance has announced its 54th Launchpool project, Notcoin (NOT), where users can stake BNB and FDUSD in different pools to mine NOT tokens over three days. Mining will commence at 00:00 (UTC) on May 13, 2024. NOT tokens will be available for trading in NOT/BTC, NOT/USDT, NOT/BNB, NOT/FDUSD, and NOT/TRY pairs starting from 12:00 (UTC) on May 16, 2024. Notably, Notcoin is one of the few projects simultaneously launching on Binance Launchpool and OKX Jumpstart. Notcoin is a project within the TON ecosystem and has gained widespread exposure through a viral game on Telegram.

The initial circulating supply of Notcoin (NOT) is 100% of the total supply, amounting to 102,719,221,714 NOT tokens, with the Launchpool allocation representing 3% (3,081,576,651 NOT). Due to the entire supply being in circulation, the premium on FDUSD may not be as significant as in previous instances.

2. Berachain Co-Founder Smokey The Bera Comments on Cosmos, Saying They Completely Misunderstand GTM link

Smokey The Bera’s commentary on Cosmos highlights a perspective that Cosmos fundamentally misunderstands GTM (Go-To-Market) strategies. He suggests that Bera v2 is more akin to ETH than Cosmos and advocates for a new community or brand reshaping within Cosmos. Additionally, he has clarified that Berachain should not be touted as a Cosmos Chain, sparking discontent among some Cosmos community members. In response, Smokey The Bera reaffirms that while Berachain uses the Cosmos SDK, it does not necessitate being labeled as a Cosmos Chain. He argues that being referred to as a Cosmos Chain has been detrimental in terms of developer adoption, brand awareness, and overall perception. Smokey emphasizes that Cosmos, as a whole, benefits most from enabling strong technical achievements behind the scenes rather than seeking the spotlight.

3. zkSync’s Next Upgrade Set for May 13th link

Ramon, the Product Delivery Lead at Matter Labs, announced on Twitter that the next zkSync upgrade will launch on May 13th, featuring new functionalities and improvements. This upgrade introduces the P256Verify precompile to support secp256r1 elliptic curve signature verification and adds ecAdd, ecMul, and ecPairing precompiles. Additionally, the Bridgehub component will enable interoperability with ZK Stack chains. Moreover, support for Validiums, custom data availability layers, and custom base tokens within ZK Stack has been completed and will be officially available with the upcoming server updates. The new upgrade will also support .transfer/.send calls without gas fees, addressing deployment issues for certain contracts.

4. Templated Blockchain Sophon Raises $60 Million in wETH Sales Through Its Nodes link

Sophon, the modular blockchain on zkSync, has announced that it raised $60 million worth of wrapped Ether (wETH) through its node sale. This funding will be used to launch the Sophon ecosystem, which focuses on artificial intelligence and gaming. The ecosystem is built on a modular rollup and utilizes zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, with plans for launch in the third quarter of 2024. Prior to this, Sophon completed a $10 million funding round with participation from OKX Ventures and Huobi Ventures.

5. Dragonfly Partner Abandons Investment Due to Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Eclipse Founder link

Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi tweeted that during the initial due diligence on the Eclipse project, they heard rumors about founder Neel Somani’s history of sexual harassment, leading Dragonfly to quickly decide against investing. Haseeb questioned how actual investors could not have heard about these rumors if Dragonfly heard them with only minimal due diligence. Haseeb expressed disdain that Eclipse was able to secure funding and Neel was able to cash out millions in the pre-launch phase through secondary markets. Additionally, Haseeb mentioned that several people they knew were considering the investment but were deterred by these rumors. However, they were just rumors, and Dragonfly did not investigate further.

The modular blockchain Eclipse announced a $50 million Series A funding round on March 11, 2024, led by Placeholder and Hack VC, with participation from Polychain Capital, Delphi Digital, among others. Eclipse is built on the Solana virtual machine for execution, Celestia for data availability, and Ethereum for settlement and consensus. Eclipse plans to launch its mainnet in the second quarter of 2024, with several DApps already testing its infrastructure.

6. NFT L2 Network Zora Announces Acquisition of Mint Fun Platform link

The NFT L2 network Zora has announced the acquisition of the Mint Fun platform. Zora stated that they will continue to build and develop Mint Fun, and are actively recruiting new employees to work on this product. Previously, in 2022, Zora raised $50 million led by Haun Ventures at a valuation of $600 million, with participation from investors like Coinbase Ventures and Kindred Ventures.

7. Third Distribution of Blast Gold Points Goes Live link

The official Blast announcement states that the third distribution of Blast Gold Points is now live, with 15 million coins being sent to Dapps this week. This release introduces new categories (RWA) and a new Dapp weight (Platinum). Additionally, Blast’s native DEX Thruster tweeted with pride about being the protocol with the highest Blast Gold Points again. They will distribute the earned 2.7 million Blast Gold Points in stages to their loyal users. Furthermore, Blast’s native social project Fantasy received 2.16 million Blast Gold Points, and the SocialFi application DistrictOne (D1) received 1.44 million Blast Gold Points.

8. Puffer Finance Launches Mainnet on May 8th link

The Ethereum liquidity rehypothecation protocol Puffer Finance launched its mainnet on May 8th, and the 5x Puffer Points promotion is coming to an end. Previously, Puffer Finance raised a $5 million seed round in August last year, received strategic investment from Binance Labs in January this year, and secured an $18 million Series A funding round in April this year. It is a Ethereum liquidity rehypothecation protocol built on EigenLayer. Puffer Finance’s Total Value Locked (TVL) is $1.409 billion.

9. Bybit Integrates with Ethena, Allowing USDe as Collateral for Perpetual Futures Trading link

Ethena has announced a new partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, enabling USDe as collateral to trade perpetual futures on the exchange’s UTA with all assets. This integration will also introduce spot trading pairs of Bitcoin and Ethereum with USDe. Additionally, USDe will be launched on the exchange’s Earn platform, allowing users to participate in Bybit’s launch pool mining using USDe.

Furthermore, Ethena has unveiled its 2024 roadmap, aiming to integrate DeFi, CeFi, and TradFi through USDe. Ethena’s ultimate goal encompasses three main categories: currency, network, and exchange. The Ethena network will serve as a unified currency layer with USDe as the pivotal asset integrated with applications. Additionally, it will function as an aggregated liquidity layer connecting DEXs and CEXs.

10. EIGEN Airdrop Claiming and Staking Now Open link

The EigenLayer Foundation has announced that EIGEN token airdrop claims and staking went live on May 11th at 1 AM and will remain open until September 7th. Of the initial token supply, 15% is reserved for the community, with 6.05% of the initial supply currently available for claim. In the second phase of the first season, scheduled for mid-June, the allocation will increase to 6.75%, totaling approximately 113 million EIGEN tokens.